Playlists 101: Introduction to Playlists

There is no question that a lot of attention and focus is placed on playlists. Not on just any playlist, obviously, but on the most popular ones. For example, how to get artists’ songs on certain, key playlists and also get high placement on those playlists. It may all sound pretty straightforward at first, but it becomes a bit more complex because there are different types of playlists and while a great deal of information on playlists already exists, it can be more than a little confusing. As the number of playlists on different streaming retailers continues to grow (in the many tens of thousands), and as playlists themselves evolve as a way to get more people to discover, listen, and hopefully become fans of an artist’s music, it becomes increasingly important to understand the different playlist categories and how they work.

This section provides a high-level overview of playlist categories, with emphasis on Spotify’s playlists, illustrating that, depending on the type of playlist, a playlist add or drop is not as clear cut as it would initially appear.